“Urban men also adapted themselves psychologically to the vicissitudes of army life more readily than those from the country, and this was a considerable item in physical well-being. From beginning to end of the war, the companies that were noted for the smallest sick rolls were crack outfits, made up of ‘gay youths of the cities,’ such as the Washington Artillery, the Richmond Blues, and the Mobile Cadets.”
The Life of Johnny Reb, The Common Soldier of the Confederacy, Louisiana State University Press, Baton Rouge, Page 246.
Perhaps this was the reason Arkansans suffered so much from illness. As Doyle points out, Arkansas was quite rural.
It seems as though the epidemic at Camp Hope/Nelson actually began at Fort Hindman (Devall’s Bluff), which was the first encampment involving large numbers of men. Sick rolls continued to grow at subsequent camps (Rust and Northwestern). By the time they finally made it to Camp Hope, their resistance to disease was so low that conditions were ripe for an epidemic.